BBC pundit slams Liverpool player for ‘horrible’ incident which’ll leave Arne Slot raging at him
One Liverpool player was slammed for a ‘horrible’ foul during the 2-2 draw against Manchester United on Sunday, one which’ll have consequences for the Reds.
Darwin Nunez was brought on for Luis Diaz on the hour mark but barely had an impact on the game, failing to record a single shot and completing one measly pass in 37 minutes on the pitch (including stoppage time), via Sofascore.
In the eyes of one pundit, the Uruguayan may have been fortunate to even make it to the full-time whistle because of an unsavoury moment in the final quarter-hour.
The Liverpool striker certainly made sure that Matthis de Ligt wouldn’t win one duel when he clattered into the Manchester United defender’s face with a firm shoulder barge.
Nevin slams ‘horrible’ foul by Nunez
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Pat Nevin felt that Nunez was lucky to get away with a yellow card for the incident.
The former Chelsea winger said (18:08): “Definite yellow for Darwin Nunez. To be honest, I think Nunez is staggeringly fortunate there. That’s absolutely horrible, straight in on the player, not looking at the ball. Matthijs de Ligt saved him by getting up so quickly.”
Nunez yellow card will now cost Liverpool
Unfortunately we can’t defend the Uruguayan for what was a dangerous challenge on De Ligt, who thankfully didn’t incur any lasting damage from the collision.
If it happened the other way around, we’d have been fuming with the Man United defender, so we have to be objective and admit that it was out of order from Nunez, and not what we want to see from anyone on a football pitch.
Aside from that unpleasant flashpoint, the 25-year-old simply didn’t do enough during his time on the pitch, as evidenced by the aforementioned statistics, and the yellow card he was shown by Michael Oliver was his fifth in the Premier League this season.
It means he’ll now be suspended for our next top-flight fixture, a tricky one away to third-placed Nottingham Forest, so he won’t have the chance to repeat his stoppage time heroics from our visit to the City Ground last March.
Slot won’t have minded if Nunez picked up the one-match ban if he were booked for a tactical foul (i.e. taking one for the team), but to have incurred a suspension for a daft and needless foul on De Ligt will have left the Liverpool head coach raging at his number 9.
Let’s just hope that none of our other attackers pick up an injury before we take on Nuno Espirito Santo’s team on Tuesday week. We don’t need our forward line depleted going into that game.
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